The Fano movement—often mischaracterized in public debate and even in some academic writing as a disciplined insurgent force capable of destabilizing Ethiopia’s federal order—is, in practice, a diffuse and internally fractious constellation of militias and political actors. Its architecture is defined less by cohesion than by decentralization, operational incoherence and the absence of any unifying ideological project or long-term strategic vision. While Fano has demonstrated episodic tactical effectiveness—particularly in provoking violence or disrupting local administration—it does not amount to a consolidated actor capable of mounting an existential challenge to the Ethiopian state. Its most tangible legacy has instead been destructive:…